China to increase France’s RQFII quota

    CHINA will increase France’s Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) quota “when appropriate,” the two countries said in a document distributed at a briefing in Beijing on Friday.

    France said it welcomed the recent completion of a new quota process and “looks forward” to the prompt finalization of pending processes, according to the document. The RQFII program is the yuan-denominated version of the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program, which was created by China to allow foreigners to invest in Chinese capital markets.

    ICBC appointed as Argentina yuan clearing bank

    CHINA’S central bank has appointed Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) as the yuan clearing bank for Argentina, it said Friday.

    The two countries signed an agreement Thursday to pave the way for the establishment of a yuan clearing house in Argentina. The South American country, which faces a dollar shortage, signed the deal with the aim of providing the financial structures to settle trade and investment transactions with China, Argentina’s central bank said.

    Baoding Tianwei applies for bankruptcy protection

    BAODING Tianwei Group, the Chinese power equipment company that became the first State-owned firm to publicly default on a bond payment in April, will apply for bankruptcy protection, the firm said in a statement Friday.

    The firm defaulted in April on an 85.5 million yuan (US$13.44 million) interest payment due for a 1.5 billion yuan medium-term note maturing in 2016. The statement declared that as a result of deteriorating market conditions since 2011, its business had begun encountering difficulties and it had now exhausted its cash reserves and was unable to pay creditors.

    Shanghai Jin Jiang to buy stake in Keystone Lodging

    HOTEL operator Shanghai Jin Jiang plans to buy an 81 percent stake in Keystone Lodging Holdings for 8.3 billion yuan (US$1.30 billion) to gain a stronger foothold in the country’s expanding domestic travel business.

    Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels Development Co. plans to fund the deal with cash from bank loans and its own capital. Keystone Lodging has operations in China after it merged with Chinese budget hotel chain operator 7 Days Group Holdings in 2013.